


We’ll Survive, Together

by iovelupin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gay, Gen, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28655895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iovelupin/pseuds/iovelupin
Summary: alternative universe in where Peter Pettigrew chose the right path and where The Potters’ fate wasn't death.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Peter Pettigrew/Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	We’ll Survive, Together

**PROLOGUE**

_September 1st of 1971_

**PETER** **PETTIGREW** was desperately running through Kings Cross Station, closely followed by his parents and little sister, anxious to reach platform nine and three quarters on time.

The eleven year old wizard was over the moon with joy at the fact that he would be able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but another part of him felt rather apprehensive of the year to come.

Always on edge if he would even make any friends. What if all the other children in his year poke fun at him, like they did in his muggle primary school?

Stopping right before the pillar in between platform nine and ten, he turned to look at his parents behind him.

"I'm nervous." Peter murmurs as Pamela smiles at her son, giving him a quick hug.

"You'll be fine, darling. I bet you'll make tons of friends, isn't that right Cecil?" His mother looks over at the older man who glances at Peter.

"Aye, you'll be fine— don't get all hysterical." Cecil replies, moving Peter back to his cart and squeezing his shoulders. "You don't want to make a fool of yourself on the first day."

He nods at his father and wipes the sweat off his brow, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes tightly before pushing his trolley through the pillar.

He opened his eyes and felt a grin spread across his face, in complete awe at how wonderful it was.

The glistening red train already packed with students climbing aboard, all sorts of fantastic pets running about the place.

He spins around, trying to take in everything at once, listening to the conversations of the many families around him.

"Peter, you better get on the train!"

He turns to look at his mother, his smile still wide across his face as she embraces him in one last hug.

"Will you write to me?"

"As much as you'd like me too!" Pamela says as she hands him a round silver container. "Now here, take the cookies I made— all different kinds, you can share them around!"

He eagerly takes the box and nods.

"Thanks, mum. I better go now— bye, Marie!" He hugs his younger sister, who hasn't spoken a word for the entire day due to how upset she is that he's leaving. Peter turns to his father, who simply pats his shoulder.

"Off you pop!"

Holding the box of cookies in one hand and the handle of his trunk in the other, he bustles through the large crowd, getting distracted by a small boy with his hands full of things.

"Remus! Let me take that for you, darling!"

"No, mum. It's fine, I got.." and with that he drops everything he's holding, including his fragile little kitten which starts sprinting through the crowd.

"Oh no." He rushes after his cat, almost knocking Peter off his feet as he passes.

Peter rubs his now bruised arm and huffs to himself before finally climbing aboard the train.

Remus continues chasing his cat, shouting apologizes to every person he crashes into.

"ROSIE!" He shouts across the station, attempting to not lose her within all the pairs of legs. "Come back here you little—"

He gets cut off mid sentence as he collides with a young blonde girl, crashing their heads together.

"OW! BLOODY TWAT." The girl exclaims as she rubs her head in pain. "Don't you know how to walk??"

He narrows his eyes and crosses his arms, "don't you know how to walk? You obviously saw me coming, idiot."

"Pardon me but you were the one who was in my way."

"You ran right into me, you little prick."

The two eleven year olds glare at each other, only getting distracted by the sound of purring. 

Both look quickly below them and the girl scowls, picking her cat up in her arms, though they seemed to take a liking in Rosie.

"Monty!" The blonde girl huffs dramatically, rubbing her thumb lightly on the cat's head. "We don't go near cats that have rude owners."

"I am not rude!" He picks Rosie up and huffs.

She rolls her eyes and reaches a hand out to pet Remus' cat, humming to herself and glancing up at the taller boy.

"I'm Marlene. Marlene McKinnon." She tells him, letting Monty curl up on her shoulder. "I suppose I 'ought to be nice to you since they've decided to become mates."

"Rosie will not be mating with him!" Remus answers quickly as Marlene bites her lip to hold back a laugh.

"I mean friends, get your mind out of the gutter." He goes pink in the cheeks, a bit embarrassed.

"..well— I'm Remus Lupin, it's my first year."

"Mine too!" She says. "Wonderful. We are friends then." He shoots his eyes down at her. This girl must be mental, he thought.

"Says who?"

"Says me, obviously." She states and smiles. "I'll see you at school, yeah?" And with that she walks off before he could even get a word in.

He turns on his heal and struts back over to his parents, only having enough time to give them a very rushed goodbye.

"Remus, Julia's waiting for you darling!" Hope smooths his hair down and presses a firm kiss to his forehead. "I'll write to you every day!"

"You don't have to, mum!"

He whines as she waves him off and helps him with his bags passing them to Remus' older cousin, Joseph, as Julia helps him onto the train.

Blowing a kiss to his mother, Remus turns to follow Julia, to sit with her and her group of friends in their compartment.

Outside the train, there was a young boy by the name of Sirius Black, getting yet another lecture about the importance of the pureblood name and how his job at Hogwarts is to keep up his familys honor.

"..and do try to get into Slytherin, all your cousins managed to." Walburga Black, the boy's mother, finishes off her sentence.

"I cannot control it, mother."

She shoots him a harsh glare and smacks his chest with her fan, automatically making him to stand up straight.

"You can."

He gulps and nods, fiddling with his hands. It was just his mother and younger brother, Regulus, who took him to the platform today. His father far too busy for this sort of thing.

Sirius used to be very eager to come to Hogwarts, after hearing how wonderful it was from his three cousins, Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa, but since he got his letter it became clear how much pressure there was for him to get into Slytherin, and how much it meant to his parents.

They told him who he could be friends with, what families were honorable to keep in contact with, it was a great deal of pressure to place on an eleven year old, to tell him that his whole future relies on the people he chooses to talk to.

The thought of disappointing his parents made him sick to the stomach. They already detest him enough, he doesn't want to give them another reason to despise him.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a loud boy practically screaming about how thrilled he was.

"I'm gonna be the best quidditch player Gryffindors ever seen, ya heard dad?"

Sirius rolls his eyes slightly at the boldness of this boy. Walburga tuts and shakes her head.

"Those are the children you don't want to associate with, Sirius." She hisses in his ear. "Now, get on the train."

"Goodbye, Regulus, goodbye mo— and she's gone."

Sirius' shoulders sink as he let's out a defeated sigh, watching his mother drag along his brother out of the platform.

He wipes his nose with the hem of his sleeve and grabs onto his trunk, attempting to pick it up.

"Need help there?" He looks up at an older man. He looks no older than thirty five and has a very charming smile plastered on his face.

"Oh, yes please, sir."

"Call me Fleamont!"

Sirius supresses a giggle at the funny name, a slight smile peaking out of the corner of his mouth.

"Ridiculous name, isn't it!" Fleamont chuckles as he leaves Sirius' trunk onto the train.

"I apologize. I didn't mean to be rude."

He shakes his head and pats Sirius' shoulder.

"I'm messing with you, son." The man says, making Sirius let out a sigh. "Are you a first year too?"

He nods timidly and Fleamont beckons the loud boy from earlier over to them.

"This is my son, James! He's a first year too."

"Hello." Sirius says and puts his hand out towards the messy haired boy. "I'm Sirius."

"Wotcher!" He grins and shakes his hand very enthusiastically. James hugs his father tightly before moving onto his wheeping mother.

"I'll see you at Christmas! Love ya both!"

Sirius watches in _awe_ as both parents hug their son, telling him how much they love him and will miss him.

James turns to Sirius and smiles brightly, nudging him in the side to retrieve a smile.

"Want to sit together?" James offers as Sirius sucks his teeth with his tongue and nods.

"Yeah.. yeah, that would be nice."

James grins and pulls him along by the arm, onto the train.

"Great!" James says. "You seem a bit— quiet, but dad says to give people a chance, they may surprise you." He blabbers on and Sirius nods his head.

"Well, that's nice!"

Sirius quite likes this boy, sure he was a bit over excited, but it was nice to have such positive energy around.

"Hey, this compartment only has two people in it, let's go in here." James pulls the door open and smiles at the two people seated.

"Excuse me, can we sit in here?"

A small red headed girl nods and gives the two boys an awkward smile. The lad sitting besides her scowls slightly, fixing his eyes back on his book.

Both of them sit down on the opposite bench.

"My name's Lily Evans, pleasure to meet you."

"Woah— Scottish! That's brilliant. I'm James Potter and this is Sirius— what's your last name?" James mumbles over to him.

"Sirius Black."

Lily smiles a bit at them, hardly focusing as she's busy lost in thought about what house she'll be in. Hopefully Slytherin, apparently is the best according to her friend.

The dark haired boy besides her snickers a bit.

Sirius shifts in his seat, sucking on his bottom lip between his two front teeth.

"Is there something amusing about my name?"

"It's quite ridiculous." The Lily girl shushes him. Lecturing him quickly and quietly on not to be so rude.

They smile at her and Sirius glares back at the boy. "Alright then, what's your name?"

"Severus Snape."

James and Sirius share a look with one another before erupting into laughter.

"You've got to be joking! You're making fun of Sirius' name with a name like that!" James says, barely able to stop his laughing fit.

Severus glares at them and stands up abruptly out of his seat, snatching his bag in his hand.

"Let's go, Lily."

"I.. alright." She mumbles and slides her bag over her shoulder as she stands up, looking over at them.

"Um, bye."

"Goodbye!" She rushes after Severus and James turns to Sirius.

"She seems nice," James says, Sirius shrugging a bit, "but that bloke is a right prick, ain't he?"

"Indeed he is." Sirius responds, tapping his fingers along his knees. "Sirius isn't even that ridiculous!"

"No, it's actually really.. serious!"

Both of them explode into laughter once more. Sirius has now decided this is a boy he definitely wants to keep around, he hasn't laughed this much in years.

The pair gets to know each other a bit more, only getting interrupted when someone opens the door.

"Er.. hullo, may I sit in here please?" Peter Pettigrew pops his head in, barely able to hold all his belongings in his arms.

"Course ya can."

James smiles a bit and helps him bring his trunk in.

"I'm James, this is Sirius!" He slumps back in his seat and fixes his attention on their new compartment mate.

"My name's Peter Pettigrew." The boy responds and rests the silver container on his lap. "Want a cookie?"

James grins and nods.

"I like you already, Peter." James replies as Peter giggles a bit and hands them both a cookie.

Peter sits back, a smile plastered on his face, pleased with the compartment he picked.

Meanwhile, Remus is angrily leaving the compartment filled with his cousin, Julia's, very irritating friends, in search of somewhere else to sit.

He moves along the corridor, falling into the walls as the train moves.

He holds Rosie tighter towards him and grabs the handle of the first compartment he reaches, yanking the door open and flopping back in the seat, closing his eyes.

He heard someome clearing their throat and opens his eyes, cheeks going scarlet, seeing three other boys staring at him.

"Ah, shit."

James and Sirius share a surprised look hearing that word come from this tiny boy's mouth.

"Hello to you too." James chuckles awkwardly, introducing himself and the other two boys once again.

Remus looks at them all and down at Rosie.

"I'm Remus Lupin." He says, scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry, didn't realize there was anyone in here— I'll leave."

"Stay! We don't mind— plus, Peter has cookies!" Remus looks up and at the box Peter is offering him.

"Is there chocolate ones?"

"Yeah, lots!"

"Thank you." He grabs one quickly, making sure his fingers don't touch the silver that the cookies were held in. Taking a bite of one and sinking back in his seat.

"It's very good, Peter." Sirius mumbles, shoving a second cookie into his mouth, crumbs falling out.

"Thanks! My mum made them, hope I can bake as well as her one day." Remus smiles a bit and hums, shoving the rest of it in his mouth.

He moves to the other side of Peter in hopes to get a view of outside, but all he can see is the green blur of the countryside.

"I'm not too keen on train rides, they make me feel ill." Remus says, leaning back in his seat.

"Well, how about we distract you, eh?" James declares, pulling out a pack of exploding snap cards.

"Oh, I love this game!" Sirius pipes up as Peter looks at the three boys a bit confused.

"Er.. what's this?" He asks a bit timidly, not wanting to seem stupid.

James gives him a warm smile and starts placing out the cards, patiently explaining how to play.

The four boys get aquatinted with each other, each sharing the story of how they got their letters, Remus casually avoiding the questioning of why he was so surprised to be able to go to Hogwarts, and filled themselves up from sweets on the trolley.

Julia Lupin, already changed into her Ravenclaw robes, slowly slides the door open.

"Hullo— Remus?" She says, peaking over the Peter boy's head to see her younger cousin. "Are you alright? I'm checking in on ya."

Remus looks over at Julia and nods.

"Yeah I am, lads this is Julia, she's my cousin— Julia this is Peter, James and Sirius." She waves innocently at them.

"Want a cookie?" Peter asks as she raises an eyebrow at him and hesitantly takes one from the container.

"Thank you— Peter?" He bobs his head and she smiles, biting onto her cookie. "We are almost at Hogwarts, I'd get changed if I were you." She pats Remus' head and walks out.

"She seems nice."

"She seems scary." Peter says, not use to any sort of girl being so kind towards him. Remus snorts and rolls his eyes.

"She's not scary, you're just a wimp."

"Hey!" Peter protests as the others laugh, soon heading to change into their robes.

They finally arrive at Hogwarts, climbing into the sailboats, all four of them squeezing in one together.

"What house do you think we will all get into?" James asks, his leg bouncing causing the boat to wobble a bit. "I better be a Gryffindor."

Peter shrugs his shoulders, not really that interested in the house he will get into.

"Any would be alright, I hope we all end up in the same house, that would be brilliant."

Remus looks at the water and yawns a bit.

"I'll probably be in Ravenclaw, like my cousins— what about you, Sirius?" Remus asks as they all turn their heads towards him.

"Oh. Um, well, my parents want me to get into Slytherin." He mumbles, running his fingers through his smoothly long hair.

"Okay— but what do you want to be in?" James asks and laughs awkwardly.

"Honestly, anything _but_ Slytherin."

The boats arrive at the other side of the lake and the first years all get out and climb the stone path up to the castle, piling into a small room, all as nervous as anything.

A mid aged woman who goes by the name Professor McGonagall, summons them all through, alining them along the stage in front of the hundreds of other students in the school.

They all stay silent and still, too busy worrying about themselves then to focus on the rest of the students.

"ABBOTT, ISAAC!"

McGonagall calls out the first name, everyone watches as the first boy takes a seat on the stool, only taking a few minutes to be sorted into Slytherin. Everyone waiting for their turn to get sorted, the four boys holding their breaths waiting for thier names to be called.

"BLACK, SIRIUS!"

Sirius freezes, only moving when Remus gently shoves him along. He stumbles up towards the stool and sits down, closing his eyes tightly as the hat falls upon his head.

_"Well, well— what do we have here?" The hat's voice rings in Sirius' ears. "Another member of the Black family. Mm.. now where to put you. Normally I'd say Slytherin but no, you seem different, don't you!"_

His heart is racing, unsure what he wants. Part of him wants his parents to be happy— to be proud of him.. and the other wants to be happy himself.

_"Mm.. I know just where to put you."_

_"GRYFFINDOR!"_ He stays frozen in place, eyes still screwed shut as the hat was lifted off of him, silence filling the hall.

A Black in Gryffindor? Surely his parents weren't going to be too pleased about that.

He opens his eyes and looks over at his three new friends who immediately begin clapping and cheering.

He gets up shakily and steps down the small steps over to the Gryffindor table, his head sinking down as he receives glances and murmurs from both Gryffindor and Slytherin students.

He watches, head spinning slightly as everyone else gets sorted, clapping for everyone.

Lily Evans gets sorted into Gryffindor as well and she looks devastated about it as she sits across from Sirius who offers her a smile.

"LUPIN, REMUS!"

Remus catches Sirius' eye, who gives him a thumbs up as the hat falls over his face.

_"Now, Mr Lupin, you are an interesting one. Such a smart mind, clever as anything but above all so very brave, so very brave indeed!"_

Remus held his breath, knowing the braveness was definitely referring to his...condition.

_"GRYFFINDOR!"_

Julia and Joseph, his cousins, share a look, expecting him to get into ravenclaw like them, but none the less they stand up and clap for him.

He looks at them and smiles a bit, He gets up too, trying to get out of the spot light, walking down and sitting besides Sirius, who high fives him.

Two girls named Mary MacDonald and Dorcas Meadowes get into Gryffindor as well and Marlene McKinnon gets sorted into Ravenclaw, jumping right into a conversation with Julia Lupin.

"PETTIGREW, PETER!"

Peter sits down, expecting the hat to choose Hufflepuff, and sighs a bit, just wishing he would be in the same house as his friends.

_"Mm , Mr Pettigrew! There's lots of courage inside of you, one say you may have to step up and use it. GRYFFINDOR!"_

He blinks in confusion, but gets up, rushing down to the table and takes a seat in front of Remus and Sirius, who cheer loudly for him.

"POTTER, JAMES!"

The hat hardly hits the top of his head before it calls out the most obvious.

 _"GRYFFINDOR!"_ And he's not even surprised.

"Of course." James murmurs cockily and jumps up, making his way to the table and slipping down in his seat.

After everyone's sorted and the food is served, Julia and Joseph run over, Julia forcing Remus into a tight embrace.

"Well, that's a first, Gryffindor, eh?" Julia says, nudging him softly and grinning.

"Lupins are always Ravenclaw!" Joseph exclaims as Julia rolls her eyes at him. Remus shrugs his shoulders and takes a sip of his tea.

"Guess I'm just special."

And indeed he is.

**Author's Note:**

> little thank you to our friend @amysxclan on instagram for the idea of Marlene’s cat!!


End file.
